Katie Couric and Larry King in 2011, looking far more cozy than they got on a date 25 years ago. / Charles Sykes, AP

by Olivia Barker, USA TODAY

by Olivia Barker, USA TODAY

In the annals of awkward first dates between TV legends, Katie Couric and Larry King takes the Emmy.

She was around 30, living in Washington, D.C. He was 23 years older. Her picked her up in a Lincoln Town Car. They dined on Italian. He drove her - to his place.

"And what can I say, he lunged," Couric told an incredulous Jimmy Kimmel last night. Couric, however, had no desire to become one of the broadcaster's (now eight) wives.

"I started laughing a little because the whole situation was like out of a bad Lifetime movie. So I said 'Larry, you're such an interesting, nice man, but I would like to meet someone a little closer to my age.'

"He said, 'That's okay cause when I like, I really like.' ''

King, however, has a slightly more PG version of how the night unfolded. "We went out to dinner, a nice Italian restaurant, we drove home, thought we were kind of romantic, we get to her door, in the apartment house and she said, 'Oh, I have a roommate,' '' he said in 2009. "Then I kissed her goodnight and that was that. And we became friends ever since."